Will of chaos

Pov Xerxes (Paradox):

Freedom is magnificent.

Freedom to think.

Freedom to act.

Freedom to feel.

Freedom to dance.

Freedom to do whatever I want without being controlled by my emotions, without being confused by mixed thoughts, without being controlled by unpredictable instincts, and especially without that constant insanity that I no longer need to try to keep under control.

Happiness and joy were wonderful; I couldn’t help but hug the boy Zenos, who brought everything I had been searching for straight to me.

I looked at all the Anomalous Creatures around me, recognizing their origin; they were affected by the remnants of Zenos’ power that I released at birth, but he probably doesn’t even realize it.

I found them very interesting to watch, so I pulled one to dance. Seeing it change while still in my arms was interesting; it became so much more beautiful that I became curious about the others, and so I played with one of each type, knowing that a little of my power was being drained since I didn’t control it well yet.

In the end, I threw myself to the ground, tired and happy with all this simplicity. I no longer needed to think on a multi-universal scale about the consequences of what I did; all that power thankfully disappeared along with those ridiculous responsibilities.

While I was thinking about this, I felt something in the center of the planet. I used what remained of my power to poke it a little, but it wasn’t enough, and I decided to borrow some from Zenos. I wanted to see what would happen, and I didn’t stop observing while talking to Zenos.

It was funny to see his inability to sense the obvious connection. I just hope he’s smart enough to stay away from my memories and mind, since they would be too much for him to bear.

Boooommmm!!!

“…” (me)

“…” (Zenos)

Suddenly, explosions erupted as dust storms rose in various directions. Then, a flaming blue eye formed in the sky, and from it emerged a beautiful, innocent young woman with wings of Starfire behind her. Her flaming hair shone in a deep, dark blue, and her clothes were plates of scales adorning her entire body up to her neck, like armor clinging to her skin.

The sweet young woman seemed to blink in the air before appearing in front of me and running into my arms. She was too cute and therefore deserved a kiss, to which she laughed innocently.

“(You are so young and so powerful, let me give you a little help…)” (me)

In my kiss on her forehead, her flames did nothing against me, but I did something for her. I transferred information directly to her young mind in a way that quickly integrated.

The information covered a variety of topics, such as alliances, powers, ways to control energy, several hundred languages, how to control Aura, my identity as well as that of Zenos and his companions.

You could see his eyes momentarily confused before his nonchalant posture softened and his eyes regained some reasoning.

“Do you know who I am?” (me)

“Xerxes…”

“Do you know who he is?” (me)

“Zenos the boy…”

“By creation, what have you done now, Xerxes!?” (Zenos)

“I just taught her a little, we can’t let someone with that kind of power run wild without control, can we?” (me)

“(She’s kind of cute too… but he doesn’t need to know that…)” (me)

“You know I can hear your thoughts if you want, right?” (Zenos)

“What a nosy kid~…” (me)

“Well, I’ll leave them with your friend who’s been watching us.” (me)

“Did you sense Tarzor?” (Zenos)

“It’s hard not to sense how much he is everything around us.” (me)

I was responsible for the first living universe that existed and I also unintentionally helped Hell in its transformation, I understand these things better than anyone in existence.

I looked in a direction where there was nothing and extended my hand in greeting. I know it may seem like there’s nothing there, but his senses are more focused on this point and, just as I expected, a hand forms simply by shaking mine in greeting while the rest of his dragon-headed body takes shape.

“Nice to meet you and thank you for limiting the repercussions to this uninhabited planet.” (Tarzor)

“I am Tarzor.” (Tarzor)

“I’ve seen you before while you were inside Zenos, but this is our first face-to-face meeting.” (me)

“I am Xerxes, I hope we can get along.” (me)

“You two can talk later, there are many things to do and we have few days to prepare.” (Zenos)

“The Twins seem interested in seeing you.” (Tarzor)

“Zenos’ daughters, the parts he stole from Life and Death?” (me)

“I also want to meet them.” (me)

“I was already planning to take you to them and in fact we are going there now.” (Zenos)

“Please take care of them all, Tarzor.” (Zenos)

The young girl looked at us talking while criticizing Zenos’ cheeks, who only patted her head, making her smile before passing the responsibility to Tarzor. Then he held my shoulder before Tarzor used his power to bend space around us, taking us directly to our destination.

——————-

Pov Zenos:

Day of the confrontation.

I was sitting on the roof of the Star Palace looking at the top of the Universal Tree when Ibuki appeared beside me, resting her head on my legs while I stroked her hair.

“We never get a day off, do we?” (Ibuki)

“True… the stronger we become, the less time we have left…” (me)

Sigh

“I wish I could say everything will be alright after this confrontation, but that seems impossible.” (me)

“At least we still have eternity, so it’s not all bad.” (Ibuki)

Kiss

She lifts her head, her lips meeting mine in a gesture of intimate affection. Then we separate, our eyes locked on each other. That brief moment seemed to last an eternity, where only the two of us existed before breaking eye contact.

“Why did you choose these people to participate?” (Ibuki)

“Xerxes and Urak lack control over their powers, and they also lack combat experience.” (Ibuki)

“I didn’t assemble this group thinking about power, otherwise I would have included Tarzor or perhaps even Niryna.” (me)

“The point here is to be unpredictable.” (me)

“Do you know what’s most important in a war?” (me)

“Numbers?” (Ibuki)

“No.” (me)

“Wouldn’t it be something like equipment… then it would be individual power acting in coordination with their companions?” (Ibuki)

“Great answer, but also no.” (Me)

“Would the choice of battleground be the deciding factor?” (Ibuki)

“It’s part of the answer, but not yet.” (Me)

“The most important thing in a war is information… information about the terrain, information about the weather, information about the opponents, and so on.” (me)

“There are many sayings in my old world about wars, but one in particular is something I’ve never forgotten.” (me)

“If I’m not mistaken, it was something like ‘Know yourself and your opponent… and you will win a thousand battles…’ or something like that.” (me)

“You mean Ayden is playing games with you?” (Ibuki)

“Yes, he’s turned this into a board game, a strategy game where he knows most of our forces while we know little about them.” (me)

“The real battle began the moment he sent those letters; this isn’t a battle about power, but a battle of strategy.” (Me)

One thing I never liked was this type of calculating enemy. Ayden alone is strong, and I’m sure he has strong subordinates, but it’s not strength that wins battles. I always knew that the Entity of War wouldn’t just be a muscular idiot; war was never just about who was the strongest.

Throughout the history of my ancient world, there are records of smaller armies defeating larger armies using strategy, stories of weaker people defeating stronger opponents using more refined techniques like martial arts, and various other tales that show the various facets of wars or confrontations, demonstrating that power is only one part and not everything that makes up the Concept of War.

“The time is coming, I have to go…” (Me)

“I’ll be waiting for your return, good luck.” (Ibuki)

Kiss

“Thank you.” (Me)

——————

I cross the space, leaving Tarzor and appearing in front of the Temple of Urd where everyone was already gathered.

Sarazar and Lolth were together silently in a corner waiting. Urak was standing ready, but her eyes were focused on Urd and on 89, who she named Astro yesterday.

Only two were causing a commotion: Xerxes and Hinata, who were sculpting clouds like children playing in the sand.

Sigh

“(Did I choose correctly…?)” (Me)

I already had a headache even before the confrontation began.

During these days I did everything I could, I let Urd train Urak, who was more than willing to put in the effort. According to Urd, she is already ready to fight.

I also let Xerxes reign with the Twins; honestly, I had no idea how to help her with the training. I don’t understand enough about Concept to train others, and she certainly knows more about Chaos than I do, so I let her train with those two while I did my own training.

I did what I could, and now all that’s left is to wait for the results. It was at this moment that a portal suddenly appeared, drawing the attention of everyone who gathered near me, knowing that the confrontation was near.